AFB Hoedspruit

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Air Force Base Hoedspruit is an airbase of the South African Air Force. It is located adjacent to the Kruger National Park. In the late 1990s an unused portion of the base was converted into a civilian airport known as Eastgate Airport.

1 Units Hosted
2 History
3 Eastgate Airport Scheduled Services
4 References

[edit] Units Hosted

19 Squadron - Helicopter squadron
85 Combat Flying School - Jet training
101 Squadron - Light transport (reserve)
514 Squadron - Security services
7 Aircraft Servicing Unit - Maintenance support
Lowveld Airspace Control Sector - Airspace control
Air Force Command and Control School - Training

[edit] History

The base was officially opened on 1 July 1978. It was designed from the start to be a highly-protected wartime base. As such, it has armoured and underground hangars, with revetments placed close to the runways for aircraft on immediate take-off standby duty.

The base is teeming with wildlife, being surrounded by the 25 km² AFB Hoedspruit Game Reserve. Keeping the runway clear of animals was a massive problem. This led the base to introduce three cheetahs on the flight line, with the end result that animal incursions onto the runway have decreased by 90%. Another SAAF base, AFB Makhado, has since also adopted this concept.

It is an emergency landing site for the Space Shuttle.^[1]

In the late 1990s an unused portion of the base was converted into a civilian airport known as Eastgate Airport.

The base gained international media attention in 2000, when it hosted the United States Air Force's rescue contingent as part of Operation Atlas Response, the mission to provide rescue and humanitarian support to areas of Mozambique devastated by the severe flooding caused by Cyclone Eline.

The base motto is Pro Nostrorum Pace (Peace for our People).